Remembering Alice II - Karaoke Night
by Mainecoon
Summary: Bored? Thirsty for nonviolent-yet-humiliating revenge? Call Alice!
1. Part 1

  
Question: What do you get when you cross Megavolt with a karaoke machine?  
Answer: Tina Turner with a really spiffy hat and goggles!   
***  
  
"This is so BORING!!" Megavolt yelled. Quackerjack and Mr Banana Head nodded. A bubbly sigh of agreement came from the general direction of the fish tank.  
  
"If this goes on much longer, my roots will fossilize!" Bushroot grumbled. All four sighed in unison.  
  
After a few more minutes of sitting in silence, Megavolt said, "Remind me again… Why aren't we out robbing a bank or something?"   
  
"Because it's not even noon yet. We work at night. How do you expect to rob a bank when your hair is made of ferns?" Bushroot answered warily.  
  
"Or wearing a jester's cap," Quackerjack piped up.  
  
"Besides, you could fry an egg on that sidewalk today," Liquidator added. "Or evaporate a puddle of water."  
  
Megavolt considered this. "Oh," he said at last. They went back to sitting silently… or almost silently. Liquidator began playing a game that involved throwing the pebbles from the bottom of the tank into the air and seeing how many he could get to land inside the plastic treasure chest. Now the room was filled with the sound of splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… splash, plop, tink!… and if you think that's annoying to read, you just try **listening** to it.  
  
When Liquidator tried tossing up multiple pebbles, Megavolt decided he'd had enough. "WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT!!!" he yelled, leaping to his feet. Bushroot and Quackerjack looked at him startled.  
  
"Make me," Liquidator said.   
  
Megavolt wisely declined, choosing to save his revenge for later. But they were still bored out of their skulls.   
  
"Don't you have some toys we could play with, Quacky?" Bushroot asked.   
  
Quackerjack shook his head sulkily. "Negaduck took them all," he muttered. "Except my remote control car. You'll have to ask Sparky what happened to that." He glared at Megavolt, who sunk sheepishly further down into his chair.   
  
"It's not my fault the experiment didn't work," he said. "And don't call me Sparky."  
  
"Fine… Sparky."  
  
"I said don't call me that!"  
  
"And I said fine, Sparky!" Quackerjack giggled.   
  
"Do you want to taste electrons?" Megavolt growled, his fingers glowing.  
  
"Ooh, Sparky's mad!" Quackerjack cowered sarcastically. Megavolt prepared to zap him, but Bushroot held him back.  
  
"Whoa, that's enough of that! There will be no sparking today… Sparky."  
  
Bushroot, Quackerjack, and Liquidator laughed. Megavolt literally sizzled with rage.  
  
"Fine!" he said. "You three can just rot here for all I care! I'm going out to have fun alone!!"  
  
"Have a good time, Sparky!" Liquidator called. Megavolt stormed out of the room, followed by the sound of laughter.   
  
***  
  
When he stepped outside of the drab, run-down building, Megavolt brightened noticeably. It was a nice day. There had to be SOMETHING to do. He headed off in the direction of the park, ignoring the strange expressions everyone had on their faces as he passed.   
  
"What to do… what to do…" he hummed as he walked. "Gotta be something to do… gads it's hot… what to do… what to do…" Unfortunately, the situation only got worse and worse once he entered the park.  
  
Megavolt spotted a stroller on the sidewalk, and, deciding keep an amiable attitude, approached it. However, he was intercepted by the child's mother, who was wielding a very large purse and screaming "Get away from my baby you freak!!" Megavolt turned and ran. The purse-wielding mother chased him nearly a quarter of a mile, screaming all the way. She attracted an impressive crowd of curious children with water guns, who proceeded to chase him another half mile. Though he managed to dodge the moisture from the water guns, his luck ran out when he made the mistake of looking over his shoulder to see if the children were still chasing him. They weren't, but while looking backwards he neglected to see that he was running right into a fountain. His electricity shorting out as a result of that encounter must have been impressive indeed, for he got quite a bit of applause and about $2.34 in coins. After untangling himself from the arms of the stone duck in the center of the fountain, a feat which forced him to remove his battery-socket device, he decided Bushroot had a point about being seen in public during the day. It just wasn't as threatening to civilians. Megavolt was forced to leave his battery device behind when the crowd began to grow and close in, thinking he was a performer.   
  
Over the course of the next few hours, Megavolt was chased up a tree several times: once by an overly friendly dog, once by another purse-wielding woman, and a third time by two children who wanted to play cowboys-and-Indians. All three times he was chased back down the tree by a psychotic squirrel he **swore** was following him. He was hit by flying objects of all descriptions-acorns, bread, a basketball, two baseballs, a rubber chicken, and a Barbie doll being only a few of them. He was knocked into a sandbox, a lake, and a patch of newly-paved cement (though his hands were protected by the gloves).   
  
Finally, fate intervened and saved the now-powerless supervillian from further torture. Fate, in the shape of a ferret in a sleeveless, multicolored pastel dress with white seashells all over it. Alice Marten, his best friend in high school, discovered him unconscious in a trash can outside her apartment. Smirking, she shook his shoulder gently to wake him.   
  
"You choose the strangest places to take a name, Sputterspark," she said when he opened his eyes. Megavolt looked up at her, more than a little startled.   
  
"Alice! What are you doing here??" He squirmed, trying to get out of the trash can.  
  
"I should ask the same of you." She put down her ever-present sketchbook and tugged him to his feet. "I happen to live here." She looked at him, barely suppressing her amusement at his predicament. "What **happened** to you?" she asked, chuckling.  
  
"I came out to find something to do. The others were being mean and boring," he grumbled moodily.   
  
"I'd say you found it," Alice said. She grabbed the sleeve of his yellow jumper, which was torn in several places, covered in sand and leaves, and still wet from being sprayed with a hose. "I'd also say you're due for a little fixing up. Come on." She poked his nose.  
  
"Ow!" Megavolt covered his nose.   
  
"What?"  
  
"It got sunburned, I think," he said. Alice smiled.   
  
"I've got something to put on that. Follow me." She led him up to her apartment on the top floor and pointed to the large black couch in the middle of the entrance room.   
  
"Sit," she ordered. He obeyed. "Stay. Good boy." Alice went into the next room, grinning.  
  
"That isn't funny!" Megavolt called after her.   
  
"Sure it is, Sputterspark! You're just not looking for the humor." She returned shortly with a pile of clothing. She tossed it into his lap and pointed at the bathroom door. "Those are my cousin's. They ought to fit you. Take off that ridiculous yellow thing and I'll fix it for you while you get cleaned up."   
  
Megavolt trudged into the bathroom, muttering grumpily under his breath. He threw the yellow jumper into the hall, along with his cement-covered gloves and worn-down boots. Alice heard the shower water start as she carried the abused costume to the kitchen.   
  
She could do nothing with the jumper until it was washed, so she filled the sink with soapy water to let it soak a while. The boots and gloves were taken into her art studio. The cement was easy enough to remove from the gloves. Alice did a little quick thinking and determined that cleaning them would not be nearly enough. She prepared a mixture of rubber cement and blue dye, and dipped the boots and gloves into it. The treatment seemed fairly effective. She heard the door to the bathroom open just as she was hanging the last glove onto her drying line.   
  
Alice stepped into the hallway. "Well, you look a hundred percent better!" she exclaimed to Megavolt. He was now wearing a pair of bellbottom jeans, a purple turtleneck, and a pair of multi-colored checkered socks. He still wore his goggles and hat, just to be defiant.   
  
"Is my costume fixed?" he asked, sounding a bit like a whining child.   
  
"The gloves and boots need to dry, and your yellow thing is being cleaned. Honestly, Sputterspark, you're just like a little five-year-old."  
  
"Am not," he said.   
  
"Are too. Now get your bottom into the living room. I'll make us some soup. Okay?"  
  
"Okay," Megavolt grumbled as he flopped back onto the couch. "But I don't like tomato!"  
  
"Quit whining and watch the television or something!" Alice called from the kitchen. Megavolt did stop whining, but he was fed up with electrical devices. He found instead something much, much more interesting to play with: Alice's sketchbook. For once, she didn't have it in the same room with her! He picked it up and began leafing through the pages. Of all the ways he could think of to describe his friend, "imaginative" was the one that leaped to mind first. Megavolt was no great art critic, but he was impressed with Alice's sketches. Her pictures showed real **motion**. It was as if the subjects would suddenly leap from the pages. Dancing gypsies, dancing foxes in a cloud of swirling bubbles, a penguin kissing the ghost of his dead wife, the inside view of a burrow of creatures Alice called "tibers": cat-sized creatures that resembled rabbits with small tufted ears and long tails. Megavolt smiled at a typical drawing of an alien about to smash a computer with a mallet, and laughed aloud at a drawing of a bobcat looking disgusted at the prospect of eating alligator tail!   
  
Alice startled Megavolt out of his reminiscing over a drawing of their high school history teacher when she spoke up abruptly from behind him. "Having fun?" she asked. He jumped and spun around.  
  
"Those are good drawings," he said. "Very good. I like the one with the alligator tail."  
  
Alice set a tray of noodle soup and crackers in front of him. "Hold still." She dabbed some gunk from a bottle onto his sunburned nose.   
  
"Hey, that stings!" he said.   
  
"Just eat your soup," Alice ordered, taking her sketchbook away from the danger of being splashed.   
  
"Aren't you having any?"  
  
"Nah. I ate a while ago." She went back into the kitchen where Megavolt's yellow jumper had been washed and was nearly dry. She took it back into the living room with her sewing kit.  
  
"Tell me what actually happened to you today," she said as she threaded the needle. Megavolt told her the entire story, playing with his soup in between sentences. Alice found the whole thing endlessly amusing. With their usual excellent timing, Megavolt finished the story and the soup at the same time Alice finished sewing his yellow jumper.   
  
"Done!" she said triumphantly. Megavolt's eyes lit up.  
  
"So can I put my costume back on now?" he asked hopefully.   
  
"I'll see if your gloves and boots are dry yet." She went into her art studio, leaving Megavolt to wonder about the drying part. She came back with his gloves and boots, which looked better than new.   
  
"Wow, what did you do to them?" he said.  
  
"Trade secret," she replied, grinning.  
  
"Ooh, I hate it when you say that!!!"   
  
"Serves you right for trying to talk to me in science language. You know I don't understand that stuff."   
  
"Aw…"   
  
"Go get changed, you Sputterspark!" She shoved him in the direction of the bathroom.  
  
Megavolt came out looking the same as ever, only without his battery. "I guess we'll have to go find that thing of yours," Alice said. "You really look kinda weird without it. No wonder you were chased by people who thought you were crazy."  
  
"But I **am** crazy!"   
  
"Oh.. yeah." Alice grabbed his hand and her sketchbook. "Let's get going then!"  
  
"You like to say that, don't you?"  
  
"What do I like to say?" she said as they slid down the railing of the stairway.  
  
" 'Let's go,' or 'Follow me!' You say that every time I see you."  
  
"That's because you never get moving. Now get!" She shoved him out the door. The two raced each other to Alice's car, which looked like a golf cart with a mini jet engine attached to it. And indeed, that is exactly what it was. They got in.  
  
"Where to, Sputterspark?" Alice asked.   
  
"I lost my battery at the park. You know that big fountain with the goddess duck in the middle of it?"  
  
Alice laughed. "I know exactly the one you mean. You fell into that??"  
  
Megavolt nodded. Alice poked his shoulder, since his nose was rather indisposed. "You're impossible," she said.  
  
They found the battery still in the outstretched arms of the goddess. Retrieving it was a chore, since neither of the two friends wanted to get wet. They managed in the end to drag it out with a long tree branch. Alice dried it with a dishtowel-one of the many strange objects always present in her pockets-and helped Megavolt put it back on. There was no doubt he looked much more like himself.   
  
"Now what?" Alice asked as they got back into the almost-car. Megavolt grinned.  
  
"I have an idea," he said plottingly. Alice grinned back.  
  
"A scheming sort of idea?" she asked.  
  
"Yep."   
  
"Ooh, I love those."  
  
They drove off.  
  
***  
  
"So what are we doing here?" Alice looked around Megavolt's messy apartment. The various appliances, most broken, were certainly interesting, but completely beyond her comprehension.  
  
"Recharging," Megavolt answered, shoving a large plug into the socket on the front of his battery device. "And getting that." He pointed to a CD player that had obviously been tampered with.  
  
"What's that?" Alice inspected it curiously. There was a computer keyboard hooked up to it.  
  
"It's a music machine. You type in the name of a song and it only plays the music without the voices."  
  
"A karaoke machine," Alice said. "What are we going to do with it?"  
  
Megavolt grinned. "Remember how we used to make up funny lyrics to songs?"  
  
Alice was beginning to understand. "Oh, that is good… that is **very** good…"  
  
Megavolt joined her beside the machine, his hat giving off a bluish electrical glow. "I love the smell of voltage in the evening!" he said. "Let's see if this thing still works."  
  
Now recharged, Megavolt easily zapped the home-made karaoke machine to life. "Pick a song, any song," he chattered happily.  
  
"Let it Be" Alice said. Megavolt typed in the song.   
  
"Still into the classics, I see," he said. "Good taste. You always had good taste."  
  
The machine clicked, whirred, and miraculously the music began to play.   
  
"All-RIIIGHT!!" Megavolt slapped Alice a high-five. Or four in this case. He began to sing along.   
  
"When I find myself in times of trouble, Alice Marten comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: Follow me! Wherever we are going, she is running right in front of me, yelling words of wisdom: Follow me! CHORUS!! Follow me! Follow me! Follow meee-eee, follow me!! Shouting words of wisdom: Follow me!!"   
  
Megavolt pushed the stop button and the two of them laughed. "That's great, Sputterspark!" Alice said.   
  
"You'll help me with my plan, then?"   
  
Alice nodded. "Oh yeah. I wouldn't pass up a chance like this if you **paid** me!"  
  
Megavolt scooped up the karaoke machine. "I'll direct you to our hideout," he said. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone where it is."   
  
"No problem," Alice said.   
  
They reached the run-down old building in no time As they snuck past the window, Megavolt glanced in. His three companions were still sitting, bored out of their skulls. Only they had rotated seating positions. Quackerjack was in the fish tank, Liquidator was in Bushroot's giant 100% organic flower chair, and Bushroot was hanging upside-down from the pipes.   
  
"This is gonna be soooo good," Alice whispered as they snuck inside.   
  
"You know the plan?" Megavolt asked, pausing at the door to their main room.  
  
Alice gave him a thumbs up signal. "I got it if you do, Sputterspark."   
  
"Good."   
  
Alice scampered off to the building's large auditorium with the karaoke machine. Megavolt opened the door and strolled in. The other three looked up to him.  
  
"Well look who's back!" Quackerjack exclaimed. "Sparky!" He giggled manically.  
  
"Well I think you should be nicer to me," Megavolt said, "Considering the fact that I've found us some entertainment."  
  
They all visibly perked up at the mention of entertainment. "Where is it?" Bushroot asked.  
  
"She," Megavolt corrected.  
  
"SHE?!" the other three exclaimed in unison.   
  
"Megs, you old devil," Bushroot said, grinning.   
  
"Yes, **she** is waiting in the auditorium." Megavolt stepped aside as three blurs of color shot past him in the direction of the aforementioned room. Megavolt followed. He found the trio of villains seated in the front row and eagerly awaiting the show.  
  
"So where is she?" Liquidator called to Megavolt as he entered.  
  
"Yeah, all I see is that weird-looking CD player. Don't tell me THAT'S our she!"  
  
Quackerjack groaned. "That would be typical. A ma-SHEn. Get it?"  
  
Bushroot and Liquidator groaned. Megavolt climbed onto the stage.   
  
"It just so happens, this ISN'T her." He stuck his tongue out at the audience. "She's backstage, preparing for the show. This is our music maker. She'll be out in a minute."  
"So who is this lovely maiden?" Bushroot asked, his eyes bright.   
  
"Oh… an old friend of mine. You'll see." He typed in some instructions to the karaoke machine and ran backstage.  
  
Quackerjack, Liquidator, and Bushroot waited eagerly. Entertainment was good, but female companionship was even better. "Maybe we should apologize to Megsie later," Bushroot said. The other two nodded, their eyes glued to the stage.   
  
The machine made a quiet clicking noise, then music from a low base began to play. The song sounded vaguely familiar. It was not until about a minute later when they recognized it. A distinctly female voice sang out over the theatre: "You had plenty money nineteen twenty-two… You wouldn't be a'wanderin' now from door to door. Why don't you do right like some other men do?"  
  
"Jessica Rabbit is a friend of his?!" Quackerjack said. "He's gotta introduce me to his circle!"  
  
The song continued a few more notes, then changed abruptly. The same voice continued: "What would you think if I sang out a tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key!" Alice and Megavolt swung down from opposite sides of the stage.   
  
[to be continued...]


	2. Part 2

[Disclaimer: this is probably one of the biggest copyright infringments in history. However, I'm not making any money off of this, so don't sue me if you happen to own any of the songs contained in the nest part of the story. Each song is noted as it's used to save space and my sanity.]  
  
[Author's note: For the sake of making this scene less awkward to write and read, the rest will be done script-style. I'll note which song I'm parodying and character actions in brackets, the way I'm doing this note.]  
  
["Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba]  
  
Both:   
We get knocked down, but we get up again!  
You're never gonna keep us down!  
We'll be singing when we're winning  
We'll be singing…  
  
[ALICE and MEGAVOLT stand back-to-back, their hands in a praying position. Song: "Come Sail Away" by Styx]  
  
Alice:  
I look to the sea.  
Reflections in the waves spark my memory.  
Some happy, some sad,  
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had.  
  
[drum solo. ALICE and MEGAVOLT twirl around and resume position facing each other]  
  
MEGAVOLT:  
A gathering of light bulbs  
Appeared above my head!  
I listened to their words, whoa yeah,  
And this is what they said:  
  
BOTH:  
They said, Come karaoke, come karaoke,   
Sing along tonight!  
Come karaoke, come karaoke,   
Sing along tonight!!  
  
[ad lib dance/acting thing going on. Song: "Ghostbusters"]  
  
MEGAVOLT:  
If there's something green in the neighborhood,  
Who you gonna call?  
  
ALICE:  
Bushbusters!!  
  
MEGAVOLT:  
If there's something wet and it don't look good,  
Who you gonna call?  
  
ALICE:  
Liquid-busters!!   
  
[she cackles manically for effect. LIQUIDATOR shudders. Song: "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"]  
  
MEGAVOLT: [as ALICE hums harmony in the background]  
I've been kept awake just to hear you snoring!  
[glares at QUACKY]  
Hear you giggle when you're sleeping,  
Wish I was far away, or dreaming.  
I could spend my life to get you to surrender,  
But you're lost to such logic forever!  
Every moment away is a moment I treasure!  
  
BOTH:  
I wish I could close my eyes!  
I wish I could fall asleep,  
But you're noisy, duck!  
And pretty soon you'll be out of luck!  
'Cause even when I flee from you,  
The thickest walls will never do,  
You're still noisy, duck!  
Pretty soon you'll be out of luck!  
  
[ALICE runs off stage. The audience stares, shocked. Song: "I Will Survive"]  
  
MEGAVOLT: [doing sarcastic dramatic motions]  
At first I was afraid-I was petrified!  
Kept thinkin' you could never live   
Without me by your side.  
But then I spent so many nights  
Thinking how you did me wrong,  
And I grew strong. I learned how to get along!  
  
[ALICE runs back on. She is dressed to look like NEGADUCK and is dragging a wagon upon which three SCARECROWS are mounted, one for each of the audience members. The likeness is almost frightening. MEGAVOLT addresses NEGA-ALICE and the SCARECROWS]  
  
Megavolt:  
And so you're back from outer space!  
I just walked in to find you here with those bored looks upon your faces.  
I should have fried your stupid hat,  
[zaps the QUACKY SCARECROW's hat]  
I should have pruned your stupid roots  
[zaps BUSHY SCARECROW's mount]  
And as for water boy and Negs, I should have given you the boot!  
[pretends to kick NEGA-ALICE. She takes the wagon and rushes off stage in mock fear]  
  
You told me: Go! Walk out the door!  
Just turn around now,   
'Cause you're not welcome any more!  
[ALICE returns in DARKWING costume]  
Weren't you the one who tried to beat me? HA! Good-bye!  
[takes out zapper gun. DARKWING ALICE cowers on the floor]  
Did you think I'd crumble?  
Did you think I'd lay down and die?  
OH NO NOT I!!!  
[DARKWING ALICE runs off stage]  
I will survive!!!   
As long as I know how to zap, I know I'll stay alive!  
[what a dance he's doing!]  
I've got all those banks to rob,  
And then perhaps I'll get a job,  
And I'll survive!  
I will survive!  
Hey hey!  
  
[ALICE comes back and twirls to MEGAVOLT's side. Song: "Poetry in Motion" by Paul Kaufman/Mike Anthony]  
  
ALICE:  
When I see my Quacky, what do I see?  
Poultry! Poultry in motion!  
Poultry in motion prancing by my side!  
Suspicious locomotion keeps my eyes open wide!  
  
MEGAVOLT:  
Poultry in motion, see the gentle sway  
A fern out on a treetop would be Bushy's way.  
I hate every movement, despise that rearranged  
Duck in much need of improvement, Mr Bushy von Deranged!  
  
[ALICE grabs two canes which are conveniently sitting nearby. She tosses one to MEGAVOLT and they dance with them. Song: "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkle]  
  
BOTH:  
Here's to you, Liquidator man.   
Darkwing loves you more than you will know.  
Whoa-whoa-whoa.  
God bless your fleas, Liquidator man,  
Heaven holds a place for them some day.  
Hey-hey-hey… hey-hey-hey!  
  
[MEGAVOLT pretends to be a drowning flea. BOTH toss their canes off stage. Song: "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" by the Backstreet Boys]  
  
ALICE:   
Show me the meaning of being Quacky!  
Is this the feeling of being wacky?  
Tell me, just how old do you think you are??  
Somewhere you missed something by far.  
  
[Song: "The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkle]  
  
MEGAVOLT:  
Hello, Bushroot, my old friend.  
Is fertilizer now a trend?  
I see your leaves are turning slowly brown.  
And did you think you'd take your date to town?  
Just imagine, would your kids be white or green,  
Or in between?  
Would they know the sounds of Shakespeare?  
[He poses and recites as ALICE keeps humming the music]  
[spoken]  
Hast thou not a green thumb, ye wily yak? And art thou not green everywhere else?  
[he looks to QUACKY]  
Dost thou not speak to thine own hand as if 'twere a Banana Head?  
[and to LIQUIDATOR]  
And thou fair fool! Thou art all wet!  
  
[he proceeds to insult them in Shakespearian for several more minutes, then ALICE stops humming and he music changes! Song: "That Don't Impress Me Much" by Shaniah Twain]  
  
ALICE:  
I know a few guys who think they're pretty smart.   
You all have idiocy down to an art.   
  
MEGAVOLT:  
You may think you're geniuses, but that ain't it at all!  
Your regular incompetence just drives me up the wall!  
  
BOTH:  
Oh-oo-oh, you think you're special!  
Oh-oo-oh, you think you're something else!  
  
ALICE:  
Okay, so you're supervillians.  
That don't impress us much. [MEGAVOLT does the "ah-ah-awoo" thing]  
So you've got the powers! Do you have the touch?  
  
MEGAVOLT:  
Now don't get us wrong, yeah we think you're all jerks.  
But that won't keep you safe from the Darkwing Duck that lurks,  
That don't impress us much!   
  
BOTH:  
Ah-ah-awoo!  
  
[The music stops. ALICE and MEGAVOLT pose center stage with their arms crossed, quite literally looking down upon their audience. The latter is speechless, trying to decide what to make of the situation. The WRITER switches back to narrative style.]  
  
Ah, that's better. Anyway… The sound of applause suddenly drifted from the back of the theatre. All eyes darted instinctively to the source of the sound. They were dismayed to see none other than Negaduck strolling down the center isle.  
  
"Impressive! Very impressive!" he said, smiling devilishly. "What a splendid plan of revenge! You may make a good villain yet, Sparky." Negaduck hopped onto the stage. The audience now cowered before him. He glared at them, then pointed to the doors. "OUT!"  
  
They were gone in a flash. Megavolt grabbed Alice's hand and was about to follow, but Negaduck stopped them. "Wait just a moment, Sparky!"  
  
Megavolt turned, cringing with fear. "Yes, boss?" he said timidly.  
  
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your lady friend?" He smiled at Alice.  
  
"Oh! This is Alice Marten. She and I have been friends for a long time."  
  
Negaduck took Alice's hand and kissed it. "Charmed," he said suavely. Alice nodded in return.  
  
"A pleasure, I'm sure," she answered politely.   
  
Negaduck straightened up, his attention turned to Megavolt. "This is one of the finest schemes I've seen you pull off, Sparky," he said, meaning every word but keeping a harsh tone. "Keep it up."  
  
With that, he turned and marched right back out the way he came, presumably to continue chewing out the other three. When he had gone, Alice turned to Megavolt.  
  
"**What** was that guy??" she demanded.  
  
"Negaduck. Our boss."  
  
"Eeeeewww… Thinks he's good with we females, doesn't he?"  
  
Megavolt nodded. "I think he pays the ones that go with him."  
  
"He'd have to," Alice agreed. They stood in silence a moment, the Alice said, chuckling, "That **was** a pretty good scheme we pulled off."  
  
"Yeah. Did you see the look on Liquidator's face when we started singing about his fleas?? That was great!!" They both laughed, remembering the performance.   
  
Alice glanced at her watch. "It's getting late," she said. "I'd better get back home, or that guy who lives across the hall from me will call my mother and tell her I'm out 'fooling around' again."  
  
"Oh alright, but wait a minute, I've got one more song… **Our** song." Megavolt typed some instructions into the machine, and a familiar tune came flowing out in flute and piano. ["That's What Friends Are For"] Megavolt began: "And I never thought I'd feel this way, and as far as I'm concerned I'm glad I've had the chance to say that I do believe I love you."  
  
Alice continued. "And if I should ever go away, well then close your eyes and try to feel the way I do today, and then if you can remember,"  
  
Megavolt joined in, and they sang the chorus of their song together. "Keep smiling, keep shining, knowing you can always count on me. For sure. That's what friends are for. For good times, and bad times, I'll be on your side forever more. That's what friends are for!"  
  
Alice hugged her friend as the music faded. "Sputterspark, you're somethin' else."  
  
"Alice," he answered, "You are too. You're my best friend."  
  
"And you're mine," she said. "Tales of Wonderland are told 'til the fire burns down to a sparky ember. But after your fairy tales grow old, I'll be the Alice to remember. Good night, Sputterspark."  
  
"Good night, Alice." Megavolt watched as Alice grabbed her sketchbook from the top of the karaoke machine and scuttled out the door. Tomorrow, he thought to himself, was another night for scheming.  
  
…end…  



End file.
